NaNoWriMo begins on November 1!

Great books on writing

NewMexicoKidGlowing Halo
Great books on writing
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Posted on:
Oct 5, 2010 - 05 39

One of my favorite writing resources is Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. Last night in our jabber chat meeting, AmaranthMuse asked for help on how to get rid of the long, boring stretches in between the action scenes. Conveniently, Dwight writes about just this problem. See this online summary about how to write sequels, the "transition period that links two scenes." (this online summary is from this nice collection of Dwight Swain articles).

There is a page on our wiki that lists recommendations for books on writing. Feel free to add to the list.

What writing books do you like and recommend? And what are some key lessons you've learned from these books?

--Tim

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theresastevens
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Posted on:
Nov 7, 2010 - 09 52

Thanks for the nod! Alicia and I love doing the blog, and we're glad people find it useful. And yes, we are both very pro-NaNo, despite seeing mountains of bad NaNo books in the slush pile, and I'm even trying to do it this year. It's been a great experience so far. My writing muscles are very rusty these days -- all editing and no writing makes Theresa a very slow drafter! But I do think that NaNo serves an important community need, and I'm happy to be a part of it.

BTW, I'm actually in the Naperville NaNo group -- please don't think I'm trolling your threads! I live in the southwest suburbs. :)

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Nov 6, 2010 - 09 05

I read "The Writer's Journey" by Christopher Vogler this year and I think it really helped me out. The books about plot structure and you'll hear people complaining that it will make stories seem formulaic, but I've been using it to find trouble spots in my story and umpth them up a notch.

I also LOVE the blog EditTorrent. It's run by two professional editors who give great advice on just about every aspect of novel writing and are very willing to answer any questions you have. Both bloggers have a great voice and pro-NaNoWriMo (which is a must when I'm reading blogs in November). I highly recommend the "Marks of the Amateur" blog post as well as looking through the blog's tags/labels and reading up on other areas you aren't sure about.

cooldoctor1Glowing Halo

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Posted on:
Nov 6, 2010 - 08 03

The Book On Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well by Paula LaRocque is at top of my writer's shelf.

Her emphasis and examples on writing efficiently and effectively are "spot on", particularly for those that enjoy a direct, declarative sentence form of writing : Hemingway, Steinbeck, McCarthy, etc. How to achieve strong prose. Every time I read it, I gain more insight into the structure of words, paragraphs, chapters and novels.

It's hard to explain, but this book is different than most writing books. Some of the Amazon reviewers have broken it down in this 5-star book; see the reviews at the link below. 240 pages of practical wisdom--- not so much a "cheerleading" manual (like Writing Down To The Bones) with tips we've all heard before (get butt in chair, you can do it, writers should be readers, etc). Paula's manual is more of a practical guide to cutting out waste and effectively telling a story. Whereas Strunk and White Elements of Style is a manual on grammar, Paula Larocque's book is a manual on how to write. Give it a whirl.

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Writing-Ultimate-Guide-Well/dp/0966517695/ref...

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Sincerely, Cooldoc.

R_C_LandPsMommy05
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Posted on:
Nov 5, 2010 - 00 29

"On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" by Stephen King is one of the best. It's not a scary book. It's a memoir of how Stephen thinks about writing and the process he goes through to make up a story. It's also a little bit of a biography, so very entertaining as well.
I really don't like horror books. I'm such a sensitive person that they really bother me. But I do love this book because it's written by one of the most successful authors of our time and he tells it like it is. He knows how hard it is to get into the business and he doesn't sugarcoat that. In fact, he doesn't sugarcoat anything.
He talks about his story growing up in the northeast, writing newspaper articles with his brother, struggling just like we are and it's comforting to know someone was actually in that position and got out. He's willing to tell us about what kinds of things he does or does not like to see in people's writing (even his own) and he challenges us to make up a story halfway through the book and actually write it! (Sorry for the run-ons). He talks about how he came up with some of his books, such as the first bestseller, "Carrie" and how to use imagery to make the chapter stand out. I figure, if Stephen King is one of the most successful authors of this past century, well, why not take some of his advice and roll with it?

Reading Nicholas Sparks's website (I always forget possessive nouns--is it Sparks's or Sparks' when referring to one person's website?) you can click on the "writer's corner" link and he'll tell you all about these wonderful things you can do to help yourself become a better writer. Again, you don't have to like love stories to read this. He mentions some other authors on this page who are from different genres, including J.K. Rowling, Charles Frazier and Stephen King.

KatherineWritingGlowing Halo
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Posted on:
Oct 14, 2010 - 20 06

AmaranthMuse wrote:
I find the podcasts of Writing Excuses invaluable for covering key topics in writing, brainstorming, and plotting.

I find them great as well. They cover all sorts of useful topics.

wordrebel
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Posted on:
Oct 14, 2010 - 15 08

AmaranthMuse wrote:
Though not particularly a written source, I find the podcasts of Writing Excuses invaluable for covering key topics in writing, brainstorming, and plotting. There are five seasons, but each of the episodes is about 15 minutes long and you can string quite a few together on your commute or running around grocery shopping, working out, and the like.

I LOVE Writing Excuses!! Great info and tips there - especially the one on dialogue they did a few weeks back!

I'm reading a book by Tom Grimes called "Mentor" and although I am only 60 pages in it is already the best book about the writing life since King's "On Writing"!

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AmaranthMuseGlowing Halo
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Posted on:
Oct 14, 2010 - 11 54

Though not particularly a written source, I find the podcasts of Writing Excuses invaluable for covering key topics in writing, brainstorming, and plotting. There are five seasons, but each of the episodes is about 15 minutes long and you can string quite a few together on your commute or running around grocery shopping, working out, and the like.

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NaNoWriMo region: Ferndale, MI | Naperville, IL
Genres: Urban contemporary; fantasy, sci-fi; speculative; historical

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